Perdue's 2007 Fruit Season Newsletter

Between the Easter weekend freeze, the continuing drought, the labor shortage and the black bears, it's been a interesting and challenging farming year. For some unknown reason more of our apple crop survived than with most other SC and NC growers. While our trees did drop a considerable number of apples during the very dry, 100 degree days of early September, we did get enough rain during August for a crop to adequately develop.

Still have need for part time person(s) to help in processing room and with apple harvesting.

As for the the black bear(s), believe we may have as many as 4 visiting the orchard almost every night, eating apples on the ground. With his 6 foot high, 16 strand barbed wire fence around the beehives, Frankie appears to have the bears under control as far as the honey is concerned.

APPLES: Have just picked or are now picking: Red and Golden Delicious, Cortlands, Romes, Staymans, Yorks and Jonathans. Will start picking after about October 15: Fuji, Goldrush, Pink Lady, Granny Smith and Arkansas Black.

With most varieties 20% to 30% of the apples have small to large skin blemishes as a result of blossom freeze damage. We are attempting to sort them out from the #1 apples. Have a significant quantity of them. Many more than we can use to make cider, apple sauce and butter. They are good for cooking and eating. Now have for sale as "Seconds" at good prices. Raspberries on the Vine

RASPBERRIES: Raspberries are cool climate fruits! Considering the terrible growing conditions this season, the fall-bearing Heritage are doing surprisingly well. We are drip irrigating most every day. Picking should be fair to good every week for the next month. PLEASE COME AND PICK. YOU CAN SAVE $1.50/qt.. If we should get some good rains, picking would be excellent!

MUSCADINES: Have a good crop of Nesbitt and Supreme black muscadines now ripe. If you want 10 lbs. or more for processing or wine making, we'll pick for you at $1.25/lb. or you can pick for $1.00/lb.. Come and get them while they last!

APPLE PRODUCTS: We're now making fresh apple cider every week and having difficulty keeping up with demand. Also now making our refrigerated apple sauce and apple butter. Hopefully can start making the vacuum packaged, very low temperature pasteurized apple slices within the next 10 days.

HONEY: Last week we took off 25 supers of honey, which appear to contain a good quantity of "sourwood". We are now in process of extracting, filtering and then bottling. Should have available for sale by mid-next week.

TELEPHONE: Want to apologize for the difficulty you're having in reaching us by phone. Last winter looked into going to cell phone usage for the farm. Found that could save several hundred dollars a year versus the BellSouth small business phone. Even though we knew the Verizon service was weak at the farm, when the freeze took out much of the fruit crop, we decided to give 100% cell phone a try. Bad, bad decision! Next season we are going back to "hard-wired" AT&T.

Apple season is now in full swing! Please come and see us real soon!!

Dick Perdue

Wednesday thru Sunday, 10:00 till 5:30.
The market will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

FARM ADDRESS FOR INTERNET DIRECTIONS AND MAP
2400 S.C. Hwy 11
Travelers Rest, S.C. 29690
See Map